"Winning a Tony this year is like winning Best Attendance in third grade: no one will care but the winner and their mom."
-Kad
"I have also met him in person, and I find him to be quite funny actually. Arrogant and often misinformed, but still funny."
-bjh2114 (on Michael Riedel)
I think part of the problem is that because of limited opportunities to begin with there are much fewer established female playwrights that have been writing for a long time. Off-Broadway companies tend to produce the same writers again and again. Adam Rapp (Playwrights Horizons/Rattlestick), Lee Blessing (Primary Stages), John Patrick Shanley (MTC), Neil Labute (MCC), Douglas Carter Beane (2nd Stage), Itmar Moses (MTC), Charles Busch (MTC), and David Henry Hwang (The Public) are just a few examples off the top of my head.
Then if the slots for newcomers are additionally limited to women, it gets even harder. That said, I worry a bit about the implication that because a play is written by a woman is somehow has an inherent higher artistic value. I hate to use them as an example because they work very hard, but I've seen most shows at The Women's Project on 55th Street in the past few years and the majority of them weren't great. (Although Aliens with Extraordinary Skills is if you're free today or tomorrow before it closes.)
I love America. Just because I think gay dudes should be allowed to adopt kids and we should all have hybrid cars doesn't mean I don't love America.
[turns and winks directly into the camera]
- Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) on 30 Rock
While I understand their concern, they also need to think of...other possibilities as to why their plays aren't being produced.
For one thing, many writers write plays that aren't being produced because they won't make money. And it's not just plays written by females that aren't being produced for that reason, it's the same for males. If the play won't make money, or an audience can't connect, then it won't be chosen. It doesn't matter the gender, if there's no connection it won't work.
I always hear about how hard it is for women to get highly respected jobs. It's also hard for males to get certain jobs. It's hard for people of any color to get certain jobs. It's hard for people who don't have a higher education to get jobs, and it's hard for those who do have a higher education to get jobs.
It's hard for everyone, and the sooner we all put our reasons for why we aren't hired aside, and instead just work harder, we can hope to get the jobs we want.
"Light the candles! Get the ice out! Roll the rug up, it's today!"